Titus Chapter 3:1-7/Commentary

Titus Chapter 3:1-7 Titus 3:1-7 “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, 2to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. 3For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” “Remind them”: The word “them” applies to all the classes just mentioned: slaves, young men and women, older men, and older women. This applies to every member of the church. “Remind”: To put one in remembrance, to cause one to remember. This is one of the tasks of a preacher (2 Timothy 2:14; 2 Peter 1:12; Jude 5). Yes, these Christians have heard such truths before but they need to be periodically reminded. “The present imperative implies that he must continue doing so…they needed to have them impressed fresh on their consciousness” (Hiebert p. 65). “Subject to rulers”: “To subject oneself, to obey, submit” (Thayer p. 645). “The present middle infinitive means that they are voluntarily to be subjecting themselves to government, ‘to rulers, to authorities’. A Christian cannot be an anarchist” (Hiebert p.

65). “The Christian does not wait to be forced into submission” (Reese 1

p. 389). “To be subject does not mean blind obedience, but it does mean to give up our self-centered interests for the well-being of others” (p. 389). “Some officials may be corrupt, taxes may be high, some injustices may be evident; but this is no excuse for the citizen to change his attitude” (Root, Standard Lesson Commentary, 1977, p. 18). Even though Paul was unjustly imprisoned, he did not try to break out of jail, did not disrupt the courtroom proceedings by shouting obscenities, he did not sulk in his cell, or have to be barred from the courtroom. Paul was in subjection to the governing authorities. Compare with Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13.

3:1 “To be obedient”: “Ancient writers tell us how the Cretans were quarrelsome and stubbornly resisted being controlled by any authority.

The land was notorious for ‘insurrections, murders, and internecine wars’. The people were quarrelsome and impatient of all authority.

There were many Jews on the island, too, and many of them were especially eager to assert their right to be free from the hated rule of Rome. Titus is to teach the Christians that Christianity was not to get a reputation as being a tool for political agitation” (Reese pp. 390-391).

3:1 “To be ready”: To prepare oneself (1 Peter 3:15; 2 Timothy 2:21; 3:17). “A Christian should be always ready to do good as far as he is able. He should not need to be urged, or coaxed or persuaded, but should be so ready always to do good that he will count it a privilege to have the opportunity to do it” (Barnes p. 281). From the context this would include cooperating with and seeking to further all that is beneficial to the State and to society” (Hiebert p. 66). Ready, willing, prepared, and alert to the opportunities to do whatever good deed may need to be done.

3:1 “For every good deed”: The Christian should not be involved in anything that is evil (Romans 12:9). “Though he is not willing to do wrong, the Christian is ready and eager to do right” (Reese p. 392). Are 2

we prepared and eager to be involved in doing good or are we reluctant?

3:2 “To malign no one”: The term “malign” means to speak reproachfully, blaspheme, revile, defame and injure the reputation of another. “To slander no one” (NEB). Even when the civil authorities are oppressing the Christian he or she cannot exaggerate or slander his oppressors. “Paul is not saying by this admonition that Christians must be naïve and never correctly evaluate and speak about the evil that they see in anyone, since this is what he himself does in 1:10-16” (Reese pp. 392-393). We are commanded to expose the evils in the world (Ephesians 5:11).

3:2 “To be peaceable”: The Christian is not to be quarrelsome or contentious. “People who are ever fighting are wretched citizens and neighbors” (Lenski). “They are to show a sweet reasonableness” (Hiebert p. 67). “Gentle”: To be equitable, fair, mild, forbearing, “it expresses that considerateness that looks humanely and reasonably at the facts of the case” (Vine p. 144). “Fair-minded” (Wms). “Showing every consideration for all men”: That is demonstrating this openly, and the tense is present, this is to be a habit, not just a consideration for some, but for all men. “The precepts here taught to Christians were new virtues. No heathen moralist ever urged these qualities” (Reese p.

394). The term “consideration” is the opposite of self-assertiveness and self-interest, and would include the ideas of humility, and courtesy.

Compare with Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 4:2; 2 Timothy 2:25; Romans 12:18. “All men, whatever their station, the highest or the lowest, are to receive courtesy from the Christian” (P.P. Comm. p. 43).

3:3 “For”: One reason why we should show such consideration to all men. Because we once were lost, we once were in the world and we should be able to sympathize with their situation. “We”: Paul includes himself in this description of our past life. “Once were foolish”: 3

Compare with Ephesians 2:2; Romans 6:21; 1 Peter 4:3. The child of God is extremely qualified to convert people, for every child of God was once a sinner as well. The term “once” reminds us that Christians can change (1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:8; Colossians 3:7). “Foolish”: Unwise, not applying the mind, senseless, an unworthy lack of understanding. Without understanding especially in spiritual things.

Compare with Galatians 3:1,3; 1 Timothy 6:9; Ephesians 4:17-19. When a person is separate from Christ he or she cannot help doing foolish things (Proverbs 28:26).

3:3 “Disobedient”: Unwilling to be persuaded, spurning belief (Titus 1:16), unyielding and obstinate. This is a very important insight into the mind and character of the unbeliever. The unbeliever must continue to reject the truth in order to remain in his sin. Remember, the nonChristian is disobedient, which means that they are accountable to God’s law and often they are actively resisting the truth (Acts 7:51-53).

“Deceived”: To go astray, be misled, deluded. Christians are constantly warned about the danger of being deceived (1 Corinthians 6:9; 15:33; Galatians 6:7). The word “deceived” does not mean that therefore those deceived are not responsible for their deceived state. We end up being deceived when we refuse to listen to the truth, are filled with pride, and want to believe something false (2 Timothy 4:3; Ephesians 4:18).

3:3 “Enslaved to various lusts”: The person who practices sin is a slave to sin (Romans 6:6; 7:14; John 8:34). “Before us passes the unconverted world, seeking pleasures first here and then there, only to find out that they don’t really satisfy the hungry soul. Instead, the lusts and pleasures become terrible masters, a slavery that gets more galling as time passes” (Reese p. 396). The word “enslaved” is in the present tense. “Various”: Lust will take the form of various sinful addictions and all are equally condemned and can be equally forsaken (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). “With a sort of grim humor Paul here flashes a 4

sudden light on what is called a ‘life of pleasure’, and shows what a slavery it really is” (Hiebert p. 68). “And pleasure”: Yet sin is only pleasurable for the moment (Hebrews 11:25), and sin is really only viewed as pleasurable when one is thinking in a perverse manner. After the actual sinful act, even many sinners are now ashamed by what they have done and actually have no interest in doing it again right away.

Compare with Luke 8:14; James 4:1,3; 2 Peter 2:13.

3:3 “Spending our life in malice”: “Wasting our time in” (Ber). The term “malice” refers to ill will and a desire to injure, “a viciousness of the mind opposed to humanity and fairness” (Vincent p. 348). “And envy”: “Envy begrudges others their good fortune” (Hiebert p. 68). A natural by-product of self-absorption is envy. “There is no impulse to rise to the level of or to gain what the other has. There is only the desire to depress the envied to his own state” (Reese p. 397).

3:3 “Hateful, hating one another”: “Detested ourselves and hating one another” (TCNT). Please note that this is the result of “doing our own thing”. The modern false prophets in our culture often preach that people just need to follow their own desires and remove all restraints and that by doing so we will find freedom and happiness (2 Peter 2:18).

Yet a pagan society is a loveless society! Selfishness does not produce loving people, rather the more that people are out for self the more they despise others and they often end up despising themselves in the process. “Hateful”: “It is a sad place to be where you have no friends, because you have driven them all away” (Reese p. 397). This verse accurately describes the culture in which we live today. Sin only produces a mutual distrust and a mutual apathy! This is exactly the type of character that a life given to pleasure and self produces. “Sin blunts the mind (foolish), perverts the heart and will (disobedient, going astray), stimulates carnal desires (lusts, pleasures), and encourages the growth of all forms of selfish living (malice, envy, hate)” (Lilley).

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3:4 “But”: God loved us too much to allow us to keep living this way without some intervention on His part. “When the kindness of God”: What a contrast between divine generosity and human selfishness. To this day unbelievers have the gall to label themselves as loving but the God depicted in the Bible as cruel. The kindness of God is here contrasted with the unkindness of men. Compare with Ephesians 4:32; 2:7; Romans 2:4; 11:22. “Our Savior and His love for mankind”: The expression, “love for mankind” is where we get the English word “Philanthropist”. Literally it means a love for man and a desire to help mankind. God is the Great Philanthropist, for who has done more for the human race? Who has demonstrated more unselfishness and genuine love for us? The plan of salvation was founded upon God’s love for man (John 3:16). Please note that God’s great love for us appeared while we were in the condition noted in Titus 3:3, see Romans 5:6ff as well. “Appeared”: “To become clearly known” (Thayer p. 245). God’s kindness and love for man specifically appeared in the arrival of Jesus Christ and His death upon the cross (John 3:16).

3:5 “He saved us”: Remember this was not an unconditional saving, there is something we must do to cooperate with this salvation (Acts 2:37-38; Mark 16:16; Hebrews 5:9). “Not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness”: “Not as the result of any righteous actions” (TCNT); “Not for any upright actions we had performed” (Gspd); “Not by virtue of any moral achievement of ours” (Phi); “Not because we were good enough to be saved” (Tay). God did not send Jesus to die for us because we had, by our own good actions, merited or earned such a reward, in fact we had been living in the complete opposite direction. Compare with Romans 5:6-8; Ephesians 2:4-5.

“Deeds which we have done”: Refers to the deeds we were doing while unsaved or before Jesus came. “Righteousness”: Probably includes a right behavior toward our fellow man (Romans 6:13; 14:17). “It wasn’t because we were doing anything right towards our fellow man that God’s kindness appeared on the stage of history. We were once 6

behaving just like our non-Christian neighbors are still behaving” (Reese p. 400).

3:5 “But according to His mercy”: We had not earned salvation, rather we needed God’s mercy. This is the predisposing cause, “but because He was merciful” (NEB). Compare with Ephesians 2:4; 1 Peter 1:3.

3:5 “By the washing”: Here we find the “means” by which God’s mercy saves us. “Through the means of” (Rhm); “Through the water of rebirth” (NEB). The Greek term here rendered washing is the word LOUTRON, which means a bath or laver. In the Old Testament the priests had to wash in the laver before they could serve in the tabernacle (Exodus 31:17-21; 40:7,30). In like manner, before we can enter God’s household today (the church, 1 Timothy 3:15), we must be washed in the waters of baptism (John 3:5; Acts 2:41,47). The water in the New Testament that is connected with salvation is the water of baptism (John 3:5; Acts 22:16; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 8:36-38; 1 Peter 3:21).

3:5 “Of regeneration”: “Water of rebirth” (NEB). “New birth, reproduction, renewal, re-creation” (Thayer p. 474). The literal meaning of regeneration is born again. The only water associated with the new birth is the water of baptism (John 3:5; Mark 16:16; Romans 6:3-5; Galatians 3:26-27). Water baptism is part of the process of how God makes us alive (Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 2:12-13).

3:5 “Renewing”: “A renewal, renovation, complete change for the better” (Thayer p. 38). “By the Holy Spirit”: The Scriptures reveal that the Holy Spirit renews the sinner by the process of His revelation (the gospel) being received by the mind or heart of man (Romans 1:16; 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10; Acts 2:37). Besides water, the other condition attached to the new birth in the Scriptures is

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being convicted by the word of God (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23).

Compare the following verses:

Verse

Water

Spirit

Titus 3:5

“Washing”

“Renewing Holy Spirit”

“Saved”

Mark 16:16 “Baptized”

“Believeth”

“Saved”

Acts 2:37-38“Baptized”

“Pierced to the heart”

“Forgiveness”

John 3:5

“Born of Spirit”

“Born of Water”

Saved

“Enter the kingdom”

3:6 “Whom He poured out upon us richly”: The term “whom” can also be rendered “which”. The term “poured out” means to distribute, or bestow, and is used of the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 2:17-18, 33; 10:45; Romans 5:5). “Richly”: Abundantly (Romans 10:12; Ephesians 1:7; 2:7). “Through Jesus Christ our Savior”: “As its channel and medium” (Alford p. 1430). Without the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection there would be no salvation to offer to man and thus no gift of the Holy Spirit as well. “And all because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did” (Tay). At this point some argue that since the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles in Acts 2:1ff, this verse is promising the same outpouring to all believers. The problem with his view is that other passages say the opposite. According to Acts 11:15-17 the outpouring of the Spirit which resulted in miraculous gifts was not a typical occurrence and according to 1 Corinthians 12:29, even in the day of spiritual gifts not every Christian had such gifts. Some view that what is being poured out through Jesus Christ in this section is salvation and all the blessings that come with it.

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3:7 “So”: This verse continues the long section started in 3:4. This is the purpose that God had in mind for saving us.

3:7 “That being justified by His grace”: The term “justified” means to declare or pronounce righteous and therefore acceptable to God. To be acquitted, pronounced and treated as innocent. “Justification means that I stand before God ‘Just—As—If—I’d—Never—Sinned’” (New Testament Words, Detzler, pp. 244-245). Other passages reveal that involved in this process of justification is not only grace (Romans 3:24), but also our own faith (James 2:21.24; Romans 5:1), the blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:9), and baptism (Romans 6:7; 1 Corinthians 6:11).

Seeing that the grace of God has appeared to all men, yet all men are not saved (Titus 2:11), we must conclude that there are conditions we must meet in order receive the benefits of this grace (Romans 5:1-2; Ephesians 2:5).

3:7 “We would be made heirs”: An heir is a legitimate child, and Christians are children of God by faith and baptism (Galatians 3:26-27).

As an heir we therefore will inherit all the blessings that God has promised. Let us also remember that must one remain faithful to remain an heir (Romans 8:17; Hebrews 6:12; Revelation 21:7).

“According to the hope of eternal life”: Eternal life is what God has promised us (Colossians 1:5; Romans 8:24; Luke 10:25; 1 Peter 1:4).

“And have been made heirs of eternal life, to which we look forward in hope” (Nor).

Observe that in this section all members of the Godhead are involved.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all mentioned in Titus 3:4-6.

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